Disciplinary Literacy: Literacy In The Social Studies Classroom

Engaging Students In Authentic Opportunities To Practice Literacy!

Because You Won’t Know If They Are Literate Until You Give Them Opportunities To Apply The Skills You Want

Them To Acquire .

The Purpose Of This Session Is To…

• Share the intent of the History/Social Studies Common Core Literacy Standards

• Share the meaning and intent of disciplinary literacy

• Demonstrate strategies and ideas for engaging students in the application of the History/Social Studies Common Core Literacy Standards & disciplinary literacy while invoking inquiry

So That Participants…• Gain an understanding of

what it means to be literate in Social Studies

• Acquire ideas of authentic ways to encourage disciplinary literacy and inquiry through the use of the History/Social Studies Common Core Literacy Standards in the social studies classroom

Session Purpose & Desired Outcomes

Literacy & Disciplinary Literacy

Each content or subject discipline has: its own unique

knowledge core and …

its own ways of inquiring, investigating, reasoning, representing, and questioning.

Disciplinary literacy refers to the specialized skills that someone must master to be able to read and write in the various disciplines (science, math, literature, history, geography, economics, politics, government, law, sociology, psychology, etc. ) and technical fields.

Literacy is the ability to read and write.

Discipline Experts in the Social Studies

• 3.G.1.4 Explain how the movement of goods, people and ideas impact the community.

• 7.G.1.3 Explain how natural disasters, preservation efforts and human modification of the environment affect modern societies and regions.

• AH1.H.3.2 Explain how environmental, cultural and economic factors influenced the patterns of migration and settlement within the U.S. before the Civil War.

• CE.C&G.1.2 Explain how the Enlightenment and other contributing theories impacted the writing of the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights to help promote liberty, justice and equality.

• The historian examines past modifications.

• The geographer maps out changes in the environment.

• The economist considers the financial impact of government efforts.

• The political scientist considers the legislation and public policy implications.

• The cultural researcher considers social changes resulting from modifications.

Content Area Reading Disciplinary LiteracySource Reading Experts since 1920s Wider range of experts since the

1990s

Nature of Skills Generalizable skills and activities that can be used in all or most reading situations

Specialized skills and activities

Focus Use of reading & writing to study/learn information

How literacy is used to make meaning within a discipline

Students Typically remedial (Strategies that are taught tend to work with younger and lower level readers – with no evident benefits for average and higher readers)

Whole distribution (Approaches usually have wider impact)

Texts Often encourages use of literacy text Only focused on disciplinary text

Role of Graphics Taught with vague generalities or are ignored altogether

Taught specific to the discipline and are critical to the whole of the text. Help support the context

Distinguishing Content Literacy From Disciplinary Literacy

Let’s Perform A Quick Exercise!

7Looking At Questions From A Disciplinary View Point

1. What prediction can you make about the time and place? What evidence do you have for your prediction? History Lens

2. What factors do you think might have led to the event(s) and situation(s) being described? What evidence can you offer to support your thinking? History Lens

3. What are some ways you can use the primary source in understanding the past and present and predicting the future? History Lens

4. What economic/financial factor might explain the action(s) described? What is your evidence? Economic Lens

5. What inferences can you as an economist about the life of the individuals mentioned in the primary source? Economic Lens

6. In examining the primary source what assumptions can you make about the relationship between human beings and the environment? How have they impacted or influenced each other? Geography Lens

1. What economic elements or references do you read in the narrative and/or primary source that can help you understand society during the time span the source was written? Economic Lens

2. What is suggested about civic life, government activity, or politics? What is your evidence? Political/Government Lens

3. Based on your reading of the narrative and primary sources, how has government activity influenced the central figures that you read about? What examples are provided by the narrative and primary sources? Political/Government Lens

4. How does the narrative help develop your understanding of the culture of the author of the primary source? Culture Lens

5. What can you tell about the social class (are they rich? Poor? In the middle?) What is your evidence? Culture Lens

8

1. Students should be able to engage in learning experiences that allow them to become “practitioners” in each sub discipline in order to apply the unique processes, approaches, tools, and knowledge base to solve authentic, complex problems and issues.

2. Students should be able to have a knowledge of the words and phrases of a discipline in order to understand the issues, events, and phenomena of a discipline.

3. Students should be able to read and understand various kinds of texts depending on the discipline in which it occurs.

4. Students should be able to combine knowledge and skills with the ability to read, write, listen, speak, think critically and demonstrate tasks in a way that is meaningful within the context of a particular discipline of social studies.

5. Students should be able to engage in authentic opportunities to learn and practice literacy by applying skills that require them to think deeply and critically about specific disciplines of social studies.

Disciplinary Literacy In Social Studies?

Rate The Five

Statements In Order Of

Your Thoughts On

Which Is Most

Important.

1?2?3?4?5?

Which of these do you believe are essential in Social Studies?

9

“We don’t need to eschew the traditional subjects—but we do need to move beyond memorizing and regurgitating what experts in the field have already discovered. We need students to think like an expert in the field. That means classrooms should look more like investigative laboratories than rows of desks ready to receive information.”

Source: Thomas Friedman in November 7, 2003http://edtosavetheworld.com/2013/11/07/think-about-jobs-

of-the-future/ blog post

Critical Reflection…Think About It!

The traditional debate in education has been around this question:

“How much content do students need to know in order to be skilled in critical

thinking, reasoning, problem-solving?”

Research has taught us that a better question might be:

“What disciplinary thinking practices do students need to master in order to be skilled in critical thinking, reasoning,

problem-solving?”

Why Disciplinary Literacy?

Disciplinary literacy encourages critical attributes of quality instruction In Social Studies. • Learning that is Meaningful & Authentic

Key concepts and themes are developed in depth

Skills necessary to help students thrive in the world beyond school

• Learning that is Integrative Combining knowledge and skills encourages greater understanding when

actually applying skills

Multiple disciplines are often a part of the content used to apply skills

• Active Engagement Actively being involved in applying skills to the content requires students to

process and think about what they are learning

Social studies involves questioning which directs inquiry that involve analysis and inferring

What Is Inquiry? &

How Does Inquiry Connect With

Disciplinary Literacy?

Inquiry is a process of learning that is driven by questioning, thoughtful investigating, making sense of information, and developing new understandings.

“Inquiry … • Incorporates interdisciplinary

study• Emphasizes skills and practices• Applies Disciplinary Concepts and

Tools

Connecting Inquiry To Social Studies Literacy

• Disciplinary literacy and inquiry-based learning goes beyond gathering facts.

• Disciplinary literacy and inquiry-based learning engages students in deeper learning, so the shift from gathering concrete facts to investigating complex and abstract ideas and relationships promotes inquiry.

A historically literate viewer understands that a movie can look historically convincing without presenting the past accurately.

Historical Literacy Meter

Are you a historically literate viewer?

Let’s Engage & Demonstrate How Disciplinary Literacy Works?

How can teachers apply disciplinary literacy and inquiry learning in the classroom?

What If Your Students Were Given This As An Artifact To Study In A Lesson?

• What do you think this might be?

• What would it be used to do?

• Who would use this?

• What type of person would have one of these?

• Which lens would you use to analyze this artifact?

What Do You Hear?Think about and write down impressions while you listen.

I Hear I Think I Wonder

Let’s Engage With Some Tactile Artifacts

1. How does incorporating disciplinary literacy engage and motivate student learning?

2. How might you use the ideas and activities from this session in your classroom? Or How might you support social studies teachers to use the ideas and activities in the classroom?

Presentation of Infomercials & Wrap-Up Discussion

Good-Bye & Thank You For Attending!

Presenters:• Michelle McLaughlin

Michelle.mclaughlin@dpi.nc.gov

• Ann CarlockAnn.carlock@dpi.nc.gov

Presentation can be found on the K-12 Social Studies Wiki at http://ssnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Conference+Presentations It will also be posted to the CCSA conference presentation site.

Let Us Leave You With This….

The Official Coca-Cola "Big Game" Commercial 2014 - America Is Beautiful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=443Vy3I0gJs